The invention relates to a releasable honda for a lariat.
A lariat is conventionally formed by tying a honda at one end of a rope, which defines an eye, and passing the other end thorough the eye to form a loop such a lariat can be used to rope animals, particularly calves and steers. It is important for the roper to practice such roping to hone his or her skills. In practicing, however, the roper must remove the rope from the animal""s neck for each practice throw. This of course takes time, and cuts down on the number of practice throws the roper can make in a given period of time. Also, young ropers practicing in this manner may find it difficult to release the animal by hand.
To overcome the inconvenience and difficulties in practicing with a conventional lariat having a tied honda, releasable or xe2x80x9cbreakawayxe2x80x9d hondas have been developed which automatically release in response to a strong pulling force. The typical releasable honda comprises a body portion or xe2x80x9cheelxe2x80x9d having a throat for receiving a knotted end portion of a rope, and a pair of resilient arms extending from the heel so as to form the eye of the honda. Although prior releasable hondas have been used with some success, they tend to rotate and/or move lengthwise with respect to the rope when being swung and thrown. This can cause the loop in the lariat to lose its desired formation, and can disturb the balanced feel of the lariat to the roper. A releasable honda should most desirably provide the same performance and feel as a tied honda. Rotation of the releasable honda on the rope can also result in an improper orientation of the arms with respect to the rope and its loop, thereby causing one of the resilient arms to bend excessively as compared to the other arm upon release of the honda. consequently, the likelihood of breakage is increased.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a releasable honda for a lariat that will reliably and securely stay in its desired position on the rope of the lariat.
The above object is realized by a releasable honda for a lariat comprising: a heel which includes a proximal end, a distal end, and a throat having a longitudinal axis and extending along such axis between the proximal end and distal end, wherein the throat has at least a portion thereof adjacent to the proximal end that peripherally varies in radius so as to have at least three equiangularly spaced maximum radii and a corresponding number of equiangularly spaced minimum radii between the maximum radii, such maximum and minimum radii being substantially constant along the length of said portion of the throat; and a pair of resilient arms having respective distal ends and extending from the proximal end of the heel on opposite sides of said longitudinal axis to such distal ends, which are closely adjacent to or contacting one another so that the arms form an eye; whereby a lariat incorporating the releasable honda includes a rope having a knotted end seated in said portion of the throat and extending through the throat and then through said eye so as to form a loop.
As used herein, a xe2x80x9cradiusxe2x80x9d of the throat at any peripheral point thereof is the line segment extending between the center of the throat and such peripheral point as well as the associated length of the line segment.
In accordance with the invention, the knotted end of the rope is securely seated in the throat so as to prevent undesirable movement of the honda with respect to the rope. The advantages of such a feature, as should be apparent from the above discussion, include a resultant stable formation of the lariat loop, a balanced feel to the roper, and minimization of arm breakage. The rope has multiple strands, typically three, which are unraveled at one end to tie the knot (such as the popular xe2x80x9crosebudxe2x80x9d knot) so as to have the same number of equiangularly spaced extremities corresponding to the maximum radii. Other preferred features of the invention and associated advantages are discussed in the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment characterized by three maximum radii and three minimum radii.